"Stamp Out Hunger" local letter carriers work to feed those in need

It was a day to "Stamp Out Hunger" as the the local Sioux City branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers worked to help feed the hungry.

Postal carriers, loaded up and then headed out. Sioux City letter carriers joined thousands of other postal workers as they celebrated 25 years of working to "Stamp Out Hunger."

"We are in the community each and every day and we see the need for food and kids are going to be getting out of school soon and we need to stock the food banks up," ," said Eddie Lofland, Sioux City Postal Carrier.

As people left piles of food for carriers to pick up. Workers did double duty, delivering the mail and collecting food.

"They just feel so passionate about the cause itself and how it helps the community and every year we slowly get better and better and it helps a community that we are in six days a week," said Carrie Matney, Sioux City Post Office Letter Carrier, Project Coordinator

Postal workers start in February to make this food drive a pounding success.

"The timing of this food drive is actually very crucial because the food given to the pantry over the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday starts to run low," reports Danielle Davis.

"It is a ton of work, it's just something you just have to widdle your way through to get built up for this day but I really love to see it all come together," said Carrie Matney, Sioux City Post Office Letter Carrier, Project Coordinator.

They say donated bags by Hy-Vee helps their efforts.

"When we have bags it seems to double our collection amount, carriers can just grab it and go, instead of having just loose cans," continued Matney.

So they collected, weighed, sorted and loaded the food to be delivered.

Last year Sioux City hit a record of 26,000 tons of food and they are hoping to break that record this year.

More than 220 union branches usually collect more than 11 million pounds of food each year. So far the collection food amount for Sioux City has come in at 24,000 tons.